A mammoth ivory baton from Hohle Fels Cave in Germany has enabled scientists to figure out how prehistoric people were able to create thick ropes about 35,000 years ago. Researchers ran some fibers through spiral-cut holes in the stick and created five meters of robust cord in just around ten minutes. The finding helps explain how a fascinating artifact was used and indicates how a lost technology that was used in prehistory worked.
According to Phys.org , the 20-centimeter rod was discovered in 2015 and was initially hard to understand. The object is carved from mammoth ivory and bears four holes lined with meticulously made spiral grooves. The original study in Science Advances claims that the purpose of these grooves was not decorative but rather operational as they served to line up, twist and combine plant fibers.
Nicholas Conard from the University of Tübingen observed that the holes appear suited for a material that can be twisted. “If you’re pushing something through a hole and rotating it ... you’re very quickly in the world of fiber,” he told Knowable Magazine . The results of the team’s reconstruction indicate that the artifact would have been especially useful for making multi-strand ropes rather than just fine thread.
The reconstructed Hohle Fels baton, with four spiral-grooved holes (H. Jensen/ University of Tübingen/ CC BY 4.0 )
The experiment is very useful because rope, baskets, bags, nets, clothing and bindings were made from plants, bark, sinew or hide, materials that usually decay very easily. Thus, archaeologists end up seeing the stone points and bones left behind while the rope having tied the materials is nowhere to be found. “We’re missing 90 percent-plus of what is happening during a [prehistoric] day,” paleoanthropologist Bruce Hardy told Knowable Magazine .
This discrepancy is what makes one think that, in the Stone Age, tools made of stone were more prominent than they actually were. Cords allowed the sharpened tips to be converted into hafted weapons, enabled people to carry heavy objects, and might have contributed to the appearance of snares, fishing nets, storage bags, and shelters
The Abri du Maras rock shelter, where a Neanderthal three-ply cord fragment was found adhering to a stone flake (Scientific Reports/ CC BY 4.0 ).
The production of cordage was time-consuming. According to the research conducted at Hohle Fels, the baton was utilized to assure consistency throughout the strands of the rope while adding fibers during the process; the act of twisting the strands caused them to get a connection. This activity points to the planning, constant novelty, and collaboration, rather than just a one off act performed on one occasion.
The plant materials themselves imposed seasonal choices. The Scientific Reports study found that the Neanderthal cord from Abri du Maras was made from inner bark fibers, probably from a conifer; harvesting and soaking such bark would have required preparation at particular times of year. Evidence from a Neolithic textile impression in Scotland similarly shows how a vanished plant-fiber technology can survive only as a mark pressed into clay.
“Once you figure out this technology, you’re just going to keep applying it,” Hardy said in the Knowable report . That observation helps explain why rope may have influenced mobility, hunting, fishing, storage and the organization of labor long before archaeologists could see the material itself. As Conard put it , “It’s only called the Stone Age because all we find is stone, not because there was only stone.”
Top image: Artisans weaving coconut rope in Sri Lanka, with right, the ivory cord making tool. Source: CC BY-SA 4.0
Ancient Origins. 2016. Discovery of Ancient Tool Unravels Mystery of How Rope was Made 40,000 Years Ago. Available at: /news-history-archaeology/discovery-ancient-tool-unravels-mystery-how-rope-was-made-40000-years-ago-020920
Conard, N. J. and Rots, V. 31 January 2024. Rope making in the Aurignacian of Central Europe more than 35,000 years ago. Available at: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh5217
Hardy, B. L., Moncel, M.-H., Kerfant, C. et al. 9 April 2020. Direct evidence of Neanderthal fibre technology and its cognitive and behavioral implications. Available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-61839-w
Mestri, S. and Egan, R. 22 September 2026. Rope, twine and thread: Invisible technologies of the Stone Age. Available at: https://phys.org/news/2026-09-rope-twine-thread-invisible-technologies.html
Taub, B. 10 September 2026. Rope, twine and thread: Invisible technologies of the Stone Age. Available at: https://knowablemagazine.org/content/article/society/2026/prehistory-lost-threads
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